The PGA Tour has delivered a fresh $100 million fightback in golf’s ever escalating power struggle and insisted that players who have already joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series will not be welcomed back.
Following a crisis meeting of leading players last week, spearheaded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory, the PGA Tour has announced an unprecedented cash injection and overhaul to include four new ‘elevated events’ to the existing schedule of eight.
Each will also have a purse of at least $20 million – up to 80 percent more than this year’s prize fund – and the PGA will also immediately double the ‘Player Impact’ bonus program to $100 million for the 20 golfers who resonate most with fans.
Pending discussions with the DP World Tour – formerly the European Tour and which entered a ‘strategic alliance with their US counterparts in November 2020 – one of these unnamed elevated events’ could be the Scottish Open, although that is complicated by the likes of Ian Poulter being banned from the PG Tour but not yet from their home circuit as a court case looms.
It was a hugely significant statement with leading players pledging to compete in all 12 tournaments alongside the four majors, the Players Championship and three further PGA Tour events of their choice.
There will also be a guaranteed $500,000 for every player who completes at least 15 tournaments in a year.
Having already announced in June the elevation of eight events to prize funds of at least $20 million, this latest boost takes the additional annual amount committed on the PGA Tour to around $200 million. And to anyone who doesn’t believe Jay Monahan has been forced to scramble since LIV launched then consider that the inaugural $25 million event in Hertfordshire was staged in early June.
Telegraph Sport exclusively revealed earlier this month that Open champion Cameron Smith is among those preparing to announce his move to Greg Norman’s enterprise in a deal worth more than $100 million.
That has now been preempted by the wide-ranging package of PGA Tour reforms and follows Woods and McIlroy’s arrival last week in Delaware for emergency talks with fellow players.
Monahan described the commitment to play 20 events – five more than the former minimum – as “unprecedented” and stressed that there would be no immediate route back for those players who have already jumped ship.
Asked if he would consider dropping suspensions, Monahan said: ‘No, they’ve joined the LIV Golf Series and they’ve made that commitment. Every player has a choice.”
He added that “our top players are firmly behind the Tour” and outlined new financial plans which also include a guaranteed $5,000 for travel and tournament-related expenses for players with minor status who miss the cut.
“Today is a culmination of a strengthened partnership between the Tour and the players, and among the players themselves,” Monahan added.
Whether it will be enough to stem the exodus remains uncertain, with Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson – who promptly quit as Ryder Cup captain – among those who have already departed.
Woods and McIlroy have joined the backlash against LIV, with the American claiming defectors had “turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position”.
McIlroy called Woods a “hero” for his high-profile response.
“We have all made a commitment to get together more often to make the product more compelling,” said McIlroy. “Everyone in that room realized that this is the best way forward.”
McIlroy has spoken directly to Smith, who dramatically beat him to the Claret Jug in July. “I don’t care if they leave or not… but I would at least like people to make a decision that is completely informed,” he said.
McIlroy also revealed details of his joint venture with Woods, which will see six, three-man teams compete in a “high-tech golf league” on 15 Monday evenings, starting in January 2024. The 18-hole contests will take just two hours to complete.